Fashion designers Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana say they were not judging the choices of others in offering their support for the traditional family.

“The only family is the traditional one,” the business partners and former lovers told Italian magazine Panorama. “No chemical offspring and rented uterus. Life has a natural flow; there are things that cannot be changed.”

“Procreation must be an act of love. I call children of chemistry synthetic children.”

Singer Sir Elton John, who is raising two children with his husband, filmmaker David Furnish, called for a boycott of the fashion brand Dolce&Gabbana.

“I shall never wear Dolce and Gabbana ever again,” he said in an Instagram post.

Out singer Ricky Martin, the father of twin boys, tweeted: “ur voices R 2powerful 2B spreading so much h8. Wake up, it's 2015. Luv urselves guys.”

Gabbana responded to the criticism in a statement, saying “it was never our intention to judge other people's choices. We do believe in freedom and love.”

“I am very well aware of the fact that there are other types of families and they are as legitimate as the one I've know,” Dolce said, referring to his traditional Sicilian family.